Justin Trudeau, Liberal Party leader and MP for Papineau, in a speech posted on January 20, 2015

Justin Trudeau used a statement by Jim Flaherty out of context to suggest the then-finance minister blamed Ontarians for the province losing manufacturing jobs. Flaherty said no such thing.

FactsCan Score: False

Speaking to supporters in London in January 2015, Justin Trudeau addressed the loss of manufacturing jobs in Southwestern Ontario.

The Liberal leader accused Stephen Harper of neglecting manufacturing while prioritizing other sectors and regions. Not only that, Trudeau suggested the government had also blamed the people of Ontario for the struggling industry.

“Mr. Harper was busy not caring about manufacturing jobs drying up, and his Finance Minister was telling Ontarians they had “no one to blame but themselves,”” Trudeau said.

The quote came from Jim Flaherty, the former finance minister who passed away in April 2014. Flaherty did make the remark, but in a different context, and back in 2012.

Flaherty was speaking at an event in Toronto about the provincial budget and deficit of then-premier Dalton McGuinty.

“Quite frankly, Ontario’s spending mismanagement is a problem for the entire country because of the size of the economy in the province of Ontario,” he said. “They certainly have no one to blame but themselves. We are transferring record sums — $19.2 billion this year to the province of Ontario, which is a 77 per cent increase from the time we became government in 2006.”

This comment was not about the manufacturing sector, and it would be a far stretch to say it was about the people of Ontario instead of the McGuinty government.

Trudeau used Flaherty’s statement out of context, and his remark is therefore false. Harper’s finance minister did not blame Ontarians for the loss of manufacturing jobs.

Media Watch:

The CBC, National Post, and iPolitics ran a story by the Canadian Press that quoted Trudeau without checking whether it was a fair comment.

In the CBC: “While Mr. Harper was busy not caring about manufacturing jobs drying up, his finance minister was telling Ontarians they had ‘no one to blame but themselves’,” Trudeau said in a speech.